January 5, 2020 will mark the two-year anniversary of the illegal arrest and imprisonment of Sisiku AyukTabe Julius, known for his nonviolent leadership of the movement for the rights of the people of Ambazonia (Southern Cameroons), and 9 of his senior aides. They remain imprisoned in Cameroon despite a March 2019 Nigerian court ruling that they should be immediately released.

The activists were arrested by Nigerian secret service on January 5, 2018, at the Nera Hotel in Abuja. The group had gathered to prepare for a meeting with the UNHCR to discuss the plight of thousands of refugees from Ambazonia, who have crossed the border into Nigeria fleeing violence at the hands of the Cameroonian military.

They were then forcibly handed over to the Cameroon regime on January 26, 2018, along with 37 other refugees, in violation of non-refoulement, a fundamental principle of international law which forbids a country receiving asylum seekers from returning them to a country in which they would be in likely danger of persecution. This was done without the involvement of a judge or the existence of an extradition treaty between Cameroon and Nigeria, and in violation of Nigerian laws, the African Union’s Convention on Refugees, and the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. This action drew condemnation from Amnesty International, the UNHCR, the United States Department of State, and other leading human rights advocates.

In March 2019, the Federal High Court of Nigeria ruled that the abduction and forcible return of the “Nera10” and 37 other Ambazonian activists by Nigerian government to Cameroon violated Nigerian and international law. The court ordered their immediately released and returned to Nigeria, as well the federal government of Nigeria to pay the plaintiffs two hundred million Naira for aggravated damages. READ RULING.

Instead of responding to the court's ruling, the Cameroon regime has dragged them in front of a military tribunal in trials loaded with irregularities in which they have each received sentences of life imprisonment.

The activists were held for over six months without access to lawyers or family visitors, and were only given this access in response to an international public campaign.

Nigeria has not taken any steps, at least publicly to implement the March 2019 court decision.

The names of the Nera 10 are:
    • Mr. AyukTabe Julius — American University of Nigeria in Yola, North Eastern Nigeria
    • Mr. Wilfred Tassang — organizer with the Ambazonia teachers Union, CAPTAC
    • Professor Augustine Awasum — Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Northern Nigeria
    • Dr. Cornelius Njikimpi Kwanga — Umaru Musa Yar’adua University in Katsina, Nigeria
    • Dr. Henry Kimeng — Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria
    • Dr. Fidelis Ndeh-Che — American University of Nigeria in Yola, North Eastern Nigeria
    • Dr. Egbe Ogork — Associate Professor, Bayero University in Kano
    • Barrister Shufai Berinyuy — Organizer with the Ambazonia Legal workers Union
    • Barrister Eyambe Elias — Organizer with the Ambazonia Legal workers Union
    • Dr. Nfor Ngalla Nfor — Ambazonia Civil Society leader

Write to the Nera 10 prisoners at the following address:
Prison Principal Kondengui Yaoundé
B. P 100, YAOUNDÉ
Cameroon
NOTE: write to each prisoner individually, using their individual names; do not use the term Nera 10!

Past Coverage:
January 9, 2019 — Ambazonian Women Take Action Around the World to Demand Freedom for the Nera 10
October 11, 2019 — Cameroon Authorities Fail to Bring the Nera 10 to Court for a Third Time
September 13, 2018 — 250 Days Too Long
June 4, 2018 — Free Julius AyukTabe and All Ambazonian Prisoners of Conscience